The Candleford Circle: A genteel faction of English ladies

[Tehet]

The CANDLEFORD Circle

Entry in the Diary of Lara Timms, Apprentice Postal Clerk and Recorder of all events.

“There are dark rumblings in our little corner of the County. Only today the Allen girl was found, her throat savaged and her modesty disrupted. I will admit that Maisie Allen was a silly young thing, her mind filled with notions of romance and flowers, but no-one should pass from this world in such a way… Still, Miss Dorkas soon took control, removing the girl’s head for burial at the Crossroads. My Mistress actually allowed me to stuff the garlic into Maisie’s neck while Thomas read from his bible.
It really has been busy, there seems no end to the Vampires that keep appearing in our town. Of course, the Platt sisters have been watching the strangers and noting down those of suspicious demeanour. Miss Pearl Platt says that it is all the fault of the railways, bringing foreigners into our little paradise, especially uncouth Londoners. She has always maintained that Vampires have been coming in on the night service… My Mistress believes that there must be something here drawing them in, though she insists that Thomas’ theory that they are looking for maidens of pure heart cannot be right due to the fact that there are not many left!
Still, Vampires are here and we will be going out again tonight looking for their nests. I never fear for my life, as Dorkas is an excellent shot with her father’s revolver and the Pratt sisters, armed with their special cloth cutting fighting knives and steel shod basques are enough to put the fear of God into any beast. Even Minnie, our serving maid, has proved herself very dangerous with a sabre, fashioned for her by Gabriel, our resident Blacksmith though I don’t approve of the way she hitches up her skirts, even if it allows her more freedom when fighting!”
 
Monday, 8th August 1898

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The quiet market town of Candleford has been subjected to the most horrendous outbreak of vampirism. Almost daily, the young, and not so young, female population has been depleted by these beasts. After many failed attempts at getting the local magistrate to ‘exercise his posterior’ as Pearl deftly opined, the ladies of the town led by Dorkas Line, the local postmistress and font of all knowledge, decided to form a band of good Christian warriors, the Circle, to combat all of these arrogant interlopers whether Vampire, Vagabond or Criminal. The respectable local male population are blissfully unaware of this show of female ‘hysteria’ and would be horrified to know that their wives are out vampire hunting under the guise of enjoying late night scripture classes and choral recitals. Coffee mornings and flower arranging in the Church have long covered shooting practice…

After much research and reading of forbidden texts, smuggled out of the archives of the Ashmolean in Oxford, Dorkas took delivery of ten quarts of holy water, twenty bushels of garlic and a box of crucifixes. The Platt Sisters, skilled haberdashers and seamstresses, created lined bodices and coats to protect the good citizens with the help of Gabriel Cook, gifted Engineer and Blacksmith, who has also crafted weapons suitable for each of the warriors. After a few disastrous initial forays, the Circle developed a fighting style more suited to their femininity and many “Interlopers” found themselves being outclassed in a swirl of flashing blades and sweeping petticoats.

The PDF of this genteel and most hysterical force is attached...
 

[Craig]

Well written and very entertaining 

One minor point: Queenie has up 50 points of mystical powers. The reincarnated pharaoh Akhenaton and the Black Dragon Tong's Dragon Lady have only 30 points apiece. it might do to rein her and her apprentice back a little (?).

[Tehet]

Without seeming to have been spending too much time in the Opium den, I look on Queenie as a form of Druidic nature born Character, similar to Morgana or Merlin and as powerful.

50 points of powers does seem a mighty total, but based on the fact that Queenie in particular has no other offensive powers and is relatively easy to kill (Armour 7 and no physical weapons) unless she has her bodyguard which would constitute a major amount of the cost, it is a lot of eggs in one basket.

I work on the basis that players will have a maximum of 4 'Characters' in their group, therefore, you would not be taking all seven. Indeed Queenie could form a faction featuring just her and Laura and the Spartan Boys.
Also no matter how many powers, she can call on, with the restrictions in the book Queenie can only ever use one power in any turn, so it is more to do with choice...and I have found powerful Mystics do tend to become bullet magnets.

Westwind are about to release some individual fighting women for EOTD, including a Vampire Hunter, a Werewolf Hunter amongst them (they also sport the rather unusual weaponry I've given out). A little less genteel but I would certainly not miss out on using them over mystics!

Now where's that pipe? I have perverse thoughts on some town...is it Cranford?

 
 

[abdul666lw]

Very intriguing and promising!
Reminds me a little of the not-so-genteel Bennet sisters